


Dancing with a Dragon

by DarkKnightDan



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, And who exactly, F/F, F/M, Gabriel is a bad boy, Hanzo doesn't know English very well yet, High School, Jack tries to be a dad, Jesse is just out of it, Just not going to announce when or where yet, M/M, McHanzo - Freeform, Multi, Roommates, Shenanigans with drugs and alcohol, Slow Burn, Sombra is Reaper's sister, Some shenanigans with Jesse having an accent, The majority of the roster will show up eventually, There will be sideships, They're all high school aged, because why not, fluff later, high school shenanigans, please enjoy, what is tagging
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-10-23 16:19:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10722855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkKnightDan/pseuds/DarkKnightDan
Summary: Jesse McCree is just one of the many boys at Saint Xavier's Academy for Troubled Youth, with only two things setting him apart. One, his southern twang, and two, the cowboy hat he wears no matter what. All of the students there had gotten used to it by their junior year, but these things catch the eye of a certain newcomer.(Or shameless Hanzo and McCree high school shipping because I am a HUGE NERD)





	1. Blazing

The sun was nested high in its orbit across the sky. Radiant, and burning brightly, it cast light down upon the world without a single cloud to impede its singular duty. Unfortunately, that also meant an ungodly concentration of heat with little to no shade.

A pair of umber eyes avoided the light of the sun, though, instead focusing on what had been a vibrantly vermillion flower. Now, its petals were limp, its head seemingly bowed in submission to the temperature that was frying it like an egg on a skillet. 

Heat waves, similarly indicating the temperature, rose off of the midnight black pavement, just a few feet away from the small group of boys currently huddled under the shade of one of the few trees in sight. Well, three boys and the singular girl in attendance at Saint Xavier's Academy for Troubled Youth. 

“Who pissed off Mother Nature?” One of the four wiped a sheen of sweat off of his tan skin, flicking his hand in an effort to scatter the perspiration from where it lingered on the back of his hand. “Whoever it was, needs an asskicking.” A muttered agreement arose from the rest of the group. The heat was unbearable, and not even their rooms had offered solace, with their broken air conditioners and lack of fans, which had sparked the exodus to the shade. This excursion was, of course, led by Gabriel. 

“I'd say the guy who’s supposed to repair the AC needs one worse.” The youngest of the group, and the only girl in attendance, kicked her feet absent mindedly in the air while she lay on her front, chin in her hands. She cast a smirk back at her brother before he shot back that she should fix the AC, with what mechanical skill she possessed. “Hey, I'm not into air conditioning,” Sombra, as the group called her, sat up as she countered Gabriel. “If they had a problem with the system, I could fix that. The machine itself is more of an issue.” Gabriel rolled his eyes at his sister’s defense. 

“So, we just gonna lollygag under this tree all day?” One of Gabriel’s cronies, the one who had been watching the wilting flower, tipped back the cowboy hat that was currently set low on his brow. “Or are we gon’ do somethin’ interestin’?” The other three pairs of eyes all shot to Jesse with disbelief.

“What exactly do you suggest we do? What is there to do when we can't stay out from under this tree for too long without being baked?” The most proper of the group asked, fidgeting with a particularly stubborn area of his golden-blonde hair as he spoke. Gabriel, taking note of his best friend’s annoying tick, simply rolled his eyes, but agreed nonetheless. The temperature must have been near a hundred degrees, and there wasn't any excursion to town that they could make in that sort of weather. 

“Well, ain't that a kick in the head.” Jesse leant back against the tree that they had taken refuge under, before crossing his arms over his chest. “I'm just sick of being stuck here when we’re free to go is all.” The whole group could sympathize with the cowboy’s assertion then. 

“To be fair,” Sombra rolled over onto her side so that she could eye Jesse with annoyance. “If you hadn't gotten yourself into trouble over the past few weeks, we could have gone out then, but you just had to do something stupid like wear that hat to class.” She gestured to the hat on the young man’s head to accentuate her point, and he rolled his eyes before pulling his hat down somewhat. 

“They can make me wear a uniform, but I refuse to let them take my hat.” Jesse ran his fingers along the brim of his precious accessory, before harrumphing and crossing his arms over his chest in a pout. “ ‘Sides, who gives two shakes of a donkey’s tail if I'm in dress code? None of the others ever are.” Jack went to say something smarmy about that question, but was shot down by a warning glance from Gabriel. So, he bit his tongue, and glanced back down the road that led up to the school.

“Someone's coming in.” The rest of the group turned to face the same way as Jack, eyes locking onto the car that was creeping its way up the drive.   
“They're driving pretty slow.” Jack stood from where he had been sitting, squinting in an effort to see who it was that was driving.

“Not one of the teachers, the car’s too small.” Sombra directed her gaze away from the car, already growing bored with the new arrival, while the rest of the group attempted to discern who this stranger was, if not a teacher. 

“Too nice for one of the locals.” Jesse adjusted his hat on his head as he watched it pull around to the front of the school and come to a halt in front of the administrative building. The black compact was dwarfed by the red brick building it had parked in front of, and the people that got out of the car seemed even smaller by comparison. 

Even from where the group was sitting, about fifty feet away, they could tell that the driver was old the moment that he stepped out of the car. For one, he carried a cane, second, he looked like, as McCree commented, “he had taken too many bucks off of a wild horse.” To translate to English, the man looked like he might fall over at any second. The only two things keeping him upright were the cane in his hand, and the young man that emerged from the passenger seat. 

“Who ordered the Chinese?” Gabriel questioned as he observed the pair of foreigners. “Don't they have nice enough schools over there?” The assumption of course being that the boy who looked about their age was a new student. Either that, or his father was here for a business deal, either way, it didn't make sense to the group for the two to be here. 

“I reckon’ he’s like us.” The rest of the group turned to face Jesse again, distracted from the newcomer by his assertion. “Reckon’ he's got some troubles need fixin’.” Sombra scoffed and rolled her eyes simultaneously, before directing her gaze back towards the newcomer.

“You act like you actually want the help, cowboy.” Jesse shrugged at the response, now scratching at the slight stubble that dotted his young face. 

“Just sayin’.” Before anything more could be said about the newcomer, Jack glanced towards the dorms, and saw that one of the teachers that worked directly with the students was walking around, glancing around in what appeared to be an aimless fashion. Or it would so appear to an outsider. 

“Who’s got the docs today?” The blonde swept his gaze back toward his friends, who all glanced at each other in exchange. Well, all but Sombra, who had rolled onto her back to stare up through the tree’s canopy and into the sky. “Because it's not me.” 

“Not me.” Gabriel leant back against the tree, crossing his arms over his chest as he felt relief wash over him at the remembrance of his therapy schedule. He was due the next day, and so was Sombra. Which left only one person.

“He could be lookin’ for someone else.” The fact that Jesse shrank back against the tree that they had taken refuge under didn't help to hide his guilt. At that though, Jack chuckled. 

“I could just call him over, if you'd like. It'd save you some trouble.” The blonde’s younger friend shot him a dangerous glare at that suggestion. “Or you could slip away while I distract him, I don't really care either way.”

“Ya’ reckon’ you can distract ‘em?” Jesse’s glare turned to a nervous glance as the teacher briefly turned toward the group, squinting at the shadows under the shade of the tree that dominated the front lawn of the school. “Not sure I can hop onto the train for this one.” 

“Just go when his back is turned.” Gabriel leant around the tree to cast a commanding stare at his friend. “If he comes after you, the worst that'll happen is that you go to the doctors, I say just go for it.” Sombra muttered an agreement, and the cowboy sighed as he pushed his hat off of his brow with the tip of his thumb. 

“ ‘Right, time to hop on my horse.” He pushed himself to his feet and skittered behind the tree, casting a cautious glance over his shoulder as he went. Jack waited for Jesse to take up a semblance of a running stand before turning back to where the teacher was standing moments ago. With a start, Jack realized the man was gone, but his eyes quickly fell upon him once more, now standing and talking with the two newcomers out in front of the administrative building.

“Go, Jesse go this way.” Jack pointed back towards the dorms, where the teacher wasn’t looking, and within a second Jesse was off like a bullet from a gun. His semi-long brunette hair flew behind him like a mustang’s mane, the high athletic shorts he had chosen to wear for the day offering ample range of motion for the school’s star sprinter to fly across the field, and into the cover of the woods that dotted the edge of campus.

Now glancing back to the group at the front of the school, Jack saw that Jesse’s flight had not gone unnoticed. However, it was not the teacher who had taken note of the cowboy as he had bolted across the field. Fortunately, it was only the young man, the presumed new student, who now stared toward the group from which McCree had just bolted. 

“Kid’s looking at us.” Gabriel took a glance toward the group at Jack’s information, and shrugged. 

“Not an issue.”

“He saw Jesse bolt.” Gabriel cocked a brow at Jack, not even caring enough to offer a reply, let alone display any concern about the youngest male of the group. It wasn't like Jesse couldn't get himself out of any trouble that he got into, and Jack realized this almost as soon as the words left his mouth. “I just don't want us getting in trouble.” He cocked his hand under his jaw, and Sombra smirked. 

“For what? We haven't seen Jesse today.” She said it just like it was the truth, as true as the fact that the sky was blue, or the fact that the sun was frying anything and everything that dare stand out under it for more than a few minutes. 

Speaking of, it seemed as though the young man and his father had taken note of the heat, as the teacher who had been searching for Jesse was now leading the pair over to the shade of the tree. Why they hadn't opted for the safety of the one building with air conditioning, the group couldn't begin to know. 

“Hey there Gabe, Jack…” the man trailed off as he seemed to internally debate on what to address Sombra. Either her given name, a definite way to make her angry, or her chosen name, which would only fuel her behavior. In the end, he just decided not to address her at all. “This is a new student,” he gestured to the young man that stood to the side, with his father. 

His hands were shoved into the pockets of the jeans that he wore, which seemed to have a strange pattern that none of the group could recognize. He wore some sort of shirt with an ocean design, and a scarf that was wrapped loose around his neck, and went further down his back than the raven black hair that reached to his shoulders. He stood with a stance that told the group he wasn't used to these kinds of situations, withdrawn, timid. 

“My name is Hanzo.” The man didn't give any sort of visible greeting as he spoke, and his tone was low. By the way he seemed to struggle getting the words of his introduction out, it seemed to the group that he was either very nervous, or he didn't know English all that well. The three couldn't agree on which one through their exchanged glances. However, Jack was the one who replied first. He was the golden boy of the group, and it was best that he make the first impressions.

“Nice to meet you.” He moved to his feet, and stepped forward, extending a hand to the man, Hanzo, who he could now see was significantly shorter than either him, Gabriel, or Jesse. In fact, he was, as far as Jack could judge, only a few inches taller than Sombra. “Name’s Morrison, Jack Morrison.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Morrison.” Hanzo didn't accept the handshake, both fists remaining squarely tucked away in the pockets of his jeans. Jack did his best not to show offense at the lack of reciprocation to his gesture, just similarly tucked his hand into his pocket. “Welcome to Saint Xavier’s, how'd you like for us to show you around?” Hanzo went to reply, but before he could, the teacher stepped forward.

“That's real kind of you to offer, Jack, but how about we wait to do that tomorrow? When it's less hot.” Jack shrugged, not really caring to do it or not at this point. “But, while I have you all, would you happen to know where Jesse is? He has an appointment with Dr. Ziegler today.” Jack glanced back toward the siblings that sat behind him, and asked if they had seen Jesse. 

“Haven't seen him all day.” Sombra yawned in an effort to seek as nonchalant as possible. Her body language, splayed out under a tree like a napping cat, certainly helped with the illusion. “Last I saw him was when he went to bed last night.” The teacher sighed, and glanced back toward Hanzo.

“You'll be rooming with Jesse. I was hoping you'd be able to meet him, thought he might be able to help you get everything moved in, but I guess you’ll see him soon enough.” He turned back toward the group. “If you see Jesse, could you please tell him to come see Dr. Ziegler? He’s worried about him. At least have him call.” Sombra nodded and smiled in response while Jack went to sit back down against the tree. 

The group then left wordlessly, heading back toward the building that the two foreigners had parked in front of upon arrival. A much smarter way to avoid the heat, but one that the small group wasn't permitted to follow. Instead, they all turned their attention back to the woods where Jesse had run. 

“Do you think we should tell him he’s getting a roommate?” Jack leant forward to look at Gabriel as he spoke. “He might want to put the liquor away, at the very least.” Gabriel snickered as he returned Jack’s gaze. 

“I figure it's more fun if we don't. I want to see how the cowboy slithers his way out of that situation” Jack rolled his eyes, but had to admit that it'd be interesting to see how Jesse avoided trouble when it came to the liquor bottles and cigars in his room. Two of three things that were expressly forbidden at Saint Xavier’s. 

“Knowing him, he’ll just find a way to make them disappear.” Sombra talked toward the ground as she returned to swinging her legs this way and that. “Then it’ll be back before we know it.”

“How's he going to pull his disappearing act when his roommate will actually need a mattress now?” Sombra glanced toward her brother and shrugged. 

“I don't think the kid will last long here anyway. Especially when he's rooming with the cowboy.” The two boys glanced at each other and shrugged. They couldn't count on one hand how many roommates Jesse had managed to rid himself of over the past handful of years.

“I'll bet the kid’s back in Japan within the week.” The oldest of the bunch asserted as he began messing with his golden hair once more. “Only question is, what’ll send him packing.”

“Jesse’ll get him into trouble.”


	2. Howdy

2  
The heat didn’t diminish in the slightest inside the dorms, but not for a lack of trying on Jesse’s part. He had all of his windows open, the singular fan that he owned aimed toward himself, where he lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling. A sheen of sweat had already begun to form on what felt like his entire body, and the cowboy felt as though he was going to start melting at any moment. He wanted to smoke one of his cigars, or take a few swigs, but that would mean leaving the bed. At this point, Jesse thought that might as well be a death sentence.

So, on his bed he lay, with his hat pulled down to cover his face. He hoped that he would be able to drift off to sleep in the darkness of his hat, but the heat proved too bothersome for that. He adjusted his position on the bed, shifting onto his side in an effort to get the fan blowing on an unexposed part of his body. 

Should really be used to this, Jesse pushed his hat up somewhat as he stared at the plain alabaster wall that was just a few inches from his nose. Back in New Mexico, it had been this hot, if not hotter, more often during the Summers. The only difference, the cowboy reasoned, was that there had actually been air conditioning in his family’s home, some way to escape the heat. It had offered a respite, one that had been neglected at Saint Xavier’s. There was, allegedly, an air conditioning system, but Jesse couldn’t remember a time in his three years at Saint Xavier’s that it had actually functioned. Or maybe it had, and it was just hard to take notice of a good thing until you didn’t have it anymore. 

No, Jesse assured himself that the air conditioning had never worked. That panel outside always had the same damn notice on it. “Out of Order” it read in big, block letters written in some sort of black marker, sharpie, most likely. 

His musing was interrupted by a knock at the door. For a moment, the young man was unsure if it was even a knock, due to how soft it was. He was used to Gabriel slamming on the door like an ape out of his cage, or Jack’s steady but thunderous knocks, but not one like this. Jesse tipped his hat back to cast a curious gaze at the door, brow cocked in confusion. He waited for another knock to follow,expecting the follow-up to be much louder than the original. However, all he was rewarded with was another soft knock. 

“The Hell?” Jesse moved so that his legs were hanging off of the bed, and stared at the door, brows knit together as he did so. He rested an arm on one of his knees, and contemplated getting up out of the bed altogether to open the door. On one hand, that might let in some cool air from the hallway. On the other hand, it would mean leaving the small halo of decently cool space that he had created with the aid of his fan. 

A third knock followed, just as near inaudible and unnoticeable as the first two. With a groan, Jesse came to terms with the fact that he was, most likely, heading to his appointment with Doctor Ziegler. That is, if the person standing at the door was who he thought it was. Content to resign himself to his fate, Jesse stood and walked barefoot across the room, his soles making soft claps on the linoleum floor of the room as he went. 

Jesse turned the deadbolt, unlocked the door itself, and pulled the self-installed chain lock off of its crude hook before opening the door. “Alright,” he was about to launch into an explanation as to why it was that he had missed his appointment with Doctor Ziegler, before he realized that he wasn’t looking at the hulking frame of Professor Wilhelm. Instead, Jesse actually had to look down somewhat to see the person who had disturbed his rest. It took Jesse a moment, but then he realized that the man who had shown up with his father just this morning was standing in the door, bags in hand. 

“Well, howdy.” Jesse tipped his hat to the stranger. “Ya’ lost partner?” The shorter man only squinted. Well, seemed to, anyway, Jesse couldn’t tell that well from where he was standing. There was an ugly silence between them then, where the two just stood, staring at each other. For a moment, Jesse wondered what he had said to offend the other man, glancing over his shoulder to see if the newcomer could have possibly caught sight of a stray liquor bottle or a cigar smoldering in one of the few ashtrays scattered about the room. 

“How-dee.” Jesse almost gave himself whiplash as he turned to face the newcomer once more, caught off guard by the seeming mockery of his accent. Jesse just cocked a brow at the response, as though waiting for something more while the newcomer shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “M-my” the man stuttered, though whether it was from nerves or just trying to recall the words, Jesse couldn’t tell, it didn’t seem as though this guy had many rodeos in the way of speaking English. Finally, when he did manage to clear up the stuttering, Jesse understood that the man’s name was “H-Hanzo Shimada.” Fancy, Jesse thought to himself, sounds like some sorta ninja name. 

“Well, Mr. Han-zo.” Jesse took his hat off and gave a slight nod of his head in greeting before replacing the aged stetson on his head. “Pleasure to meet’cha.” Jesse, recognizing that this guy looked like he was fresh off of the boat, or plane, maybe, didn’t extend his hand. Figured it may have been some sort of insult, and he really didn’t want to get on this guy’s bad side. “Ya’ need help findin’ something?” Hanzo nodded at the question, and set his bag down before reaching into the pocket of the jeans he wore. He withdrew a slip of paper, and held it up so that he could squint at it, apparently trying to read what was written. 

“I was told that I am rooming with a J-Jes.” Jesse knew that this time, the stuttering definitely wasn’t caused by nerves, the newcomer seemed as cool as an icecube as he stood there looking like an old man trying to read a map by the way he was squinting at the paper. 

“Would that be Jesse McCree?” The cowboy crossed his arms over his chest and brace one of his shoulders against the doorframe as he watched Hanzo’s eyes move over the text once, twice, trying to match up the letters to the southern twang of Jesse’s voice. 

“Yes.” His own thick accent made Jesse take a second to figure out what had been said, but once he caught the meaning, a tiny smile pulled at the edges of his lips. 

“That'd be me.” Hanzo glanced the other man over as though in an attempt to discern the truth of that statement. “What?”

“You look…..more masculine, than your name would imply.” Jesse couldn't help but snicker at that assertion. He thought about firing back on his new roommate, but realized that he didn't want to piss him off, not when they had only met a handful of moments ago. 

“Well, thank ya’ kindly.” Jesse stepped back, and opened the door further than the ajar state it had been in moments before. “Come on in, don't mind the mess, we’ll figure it out later.” Hanzo didn't seem to understand the last part of Jesse’s statement, seeing how he just raised both brows in response, but he came in nonetheless.

Without a word, nor a question about the liquor bottles and cigar butts, Hanzo set his bags on the bed opposite of Jesse’s. He then pulled himself up onto the high edge of the bed, and sat there staring at his room mate. Jesse adjusted his hat after closing the door, and smiled nervously when he saw Hanzo staring at him. 

“Ya’ uh, need somethin’?” The other just shook his head, and glanced away, eyes falling on one of the few ashtrays scattered about the room.

“You do not mind if I smoke?” It was a statement, but the tone of it told the cowboy that it was actually a question in disguise. He smirked to himself. 

“Whatcha’ smoke, partner?” The other man didn't acknowledge the statement, only unzipped one of his bags, and withdrew a long, thin pipe, which he filled with what Jesse assumed to be tobacco, pulled from the front of the same bag. Without saying anything else, Jesse grabbed one of his own cigars and, after grabbing a lighter from his desk, lit it. He then retired to his own bunk and sat down across from Hanzo, the both of them smoking their respective positions as they stared each other down.


	3. Why Here?

3  
Hanzo was absent from the room when Jesse woke up the next morning. The bed that he had taken over the night before was well-made, near pristine, save for the few wrinkles in the blanket and on the pillow. In a drowsy state, Jesse swept his eyes around the room, searching for any sign of his new roommate, but found none. He hummed to himself, and then turned back over, pulling his stetson down in an effort to get more sleep. Sunday was, to most of the students, the one day to sleep until noon, or later, in Jesse’s case. 

At least, it would have been, if not for someone wailing on the door moments after he woke up. Jesse jolted up, and went over the edge of the bed. The floor rushed up to greet him, and when Jesse landed it looked as though he was attempting to embrace the floor, to little success. The banging persisted as Jesse pushed himself up off of the floor, his hat falling off of his head as he moved toward the door. He reached up to smooth his fingers through his hair as he opened the door, and was immediately pushed back somewhat by the imposing figure of Professor Wilhelm standing in the doorway. 

Jesse took a step back, and Professor Wilhelm hummed to himself. “I thought you would be awake, did I wake you?” Jesse shook his head as he stepped back into the room to pick up his hat. Without a word, the more-than-seven-foot tall professor ducked into the room, glancing around as he did so, obviously searching for any sign of Jesse’s addictive habits. Fortunately, the cowboy had the sense to hide all of the evidence the night before, stuffing some into a mattress, and throwing some into the dumpster outside. 

“So, what’s up?” Jesse leant back against his bed and crossed his arms over his chest as he spoke, glancing at Professor Wilhelm from under the brim of his hat. “I skip class too much this week or somethin’? If that’s it, that was all Gabe’s fault.” Professor Wilhelm only offered a hint of a smile to the youth across from him as he sat down on Hanzo’s bed, the metal frame creaking somewhat as he did. Jesse pondered if the frame would hold, he couldn’t imagine it was designed to hold literal hulk-sized people. Despite Jesse’s curiosity, though, the bed held. Professor Wilhelm leant forward so that he and Jesse were not effectively standing eye-to-eye. All this while Jesse was still standing. 

“You need to go to your appointments.” Professor Wilhelm didn’t speak with any sort of anger in his voice, or any negative emotion at all, and Jesse was thankful for that. If one of the other teachers had come in, they probably would have yelled at him for missing his appointment, but Professor Wilhelm was the one guy who wouldn’t yell at the students who missed, rather, skipped, doctor’s appointments. If Jesse had to guess, Professor Wilhelm had skipped his fair share. 

“Doctor Ziegler is worried about you, and so are the rest of the teachers.” Jesse scoffed at that assertion, but Professor Wilhelm just waved his hand to dismiss the gesture. Jesse saw his usually hard face soften somewhat as he watched the young man across from him. “Just, come with me, let’s go see Doctor Ziegler.” At this point, Jesse was more or less powerless to resist, seeing how Professor Wilhelm could just sling the smaller him over that boulder he called a shoulder if push came to shove. 

“ ‘right.” Jesse tipped his hat back as he leant off of the bed, adjusting the athletic shorts that he had neglected to change out of the night previous. Seeing how it felt almost as hot as the previous day, Jesse didn’t see fit to take them off now, either. He shoved his hands into his pockets as Professor Wilhelm got up off of the bed, the metal frame creaking comically in relief of having the giant’s weight off of it. The bearded man glanced back at the bed and huffed. 

“Did you get a new room mate?” Jesse nodded wordlessly as he stood at the foot of his bed, watching as Professor Wilhelm smoothed out the blankets, which had gathered into a bunch when the colossal academic had taken his place minutes ago. He glanced back with a cocked brow, having not seen Jesse’s response, and he nodded again. 

“Well, good. Friends are important.” Jesse almost had to roll his eyes at that thought. He couldn’t exactly call his new roommate a friend, considering that all the two of them had done the day previous was sit across from each other in silence. That, and smoke. Jesse couldn’t remember how many cigars he had gone through the day previous, but he figured that he had probably taken a good half year off of his life, at minimum. 

Realizing that he hadn’t responded to Professor Wilhelm’s assertion, Jesse gave a muttered agreement as he followed the older man out of his room. When they were out in the hallway, Professor Wilhelm reached back to pull the door closed, asking Jesse if he had a key before he closed it completely. Once Jesse informed his professor that there was a key in his pocket, the two walked together down the hall, Jesse staggered somewhat ahead of the other man due to the lack of space. 

“How are things going in class this year?” Jesse glanced back at Professor Wilhelm and shrugged. He had gotten out of all of Professor Wilhelm’s classes, unfortunately, but the professor still made it a point to ask about classes. 

“History’s alright.” Jesse scratched behind his neck awkwardly. “Not like your class, but it gets the job done.” Professor Wilhelm smiled at Jesse’s comment about his class, and the younger man was almost hoping for some sort of praise for his work the previous year. Unfortunately, he received none, and he wasn’t surprised. Professor Wilhelm was more the type to worry about your spirit, rather than your academics. 

“If you’d like, I could get you in some sort of class with me next semester.” Jesse cocked a brow back at Professor Wilhelm as he continued to walk, dodging a pair of guys heading down the hall as he turned to face the taller man.

“I thought all of your classes ended with sophomores.” Professor Wilhelm chuckled, and gave Jesse a grin that he had only seen when the older man had gone into detail on lectures involving war and battle, when he really got lost in what Jesse imagined was one of the most vivid and poorly utilized imaginations in the history of the world. With the way that he captivated his students, Professor Wilhelm could have been a poet, or a novelist, hell, a politician, but he was a self defined ‘washed-up soldier and teacher’. 

“I’d be glad to let you go more in depth, just let me know.” Jesse nodded, and made a mental note to talk with the school’s guidance counselor later that day, if possible. The sooner he could get out of all of the crappy classes he had been slotted into, the better, especially if it meant having Professor Wilhelm again. As much as Jesse wouldn’t admit it to his friends, he actually enjoyed the old soldier’s class. It was, in reality, the only class that he had ever studied for during his high school career. 

The trek to Doctor Ziegler’s office led the pair out of the dorms, and onto the sidewalk that led in a straight shot to the front door of the tiny house that Doctor Ziegler called a home. It had once been a dorm, when the school had been founded, as Jesse remembered, but then it had been turned into the psychiatrist’s office. Everyone thought that it was calming, with the trees that rose around it, accompanied by its general calm and quaint atmosphere. 

“Y’know, I can make it there by myself.” Jesse looked up at Professor Wilhelm as they walked side-by-side down the path. At the look of slight bemusement that he received, Jesse sighed. “Look, I’m not gonna run off. If I was going to, I would’ve done so by now.” But still, the old soldier led Jesse like a bodyguard to Doctor Ziegler’s cottage. When they arrived, he knocked twice on the wooden door, and stepped back, leaving Jesse standing there awkwardly in the doorway with his hands still shoved into his pockets. 

When the door opened, Doctor Ziegler stood there, holding a cup of what smelled like coffee in the hand that wasn’t grasping the door knob. The blonde man smiled at Jesse, and opened the door wider. “Well, hey there.” He greeted as he gestured for Jesse to come in. When Jesse stepped in, he heard the swiss man call a thank you to Professor Wilhelm as he walked away from the cottage. Then, the door shut. Jesse instantly felt trapped, but he resisted the urge to run out of the cottage, as he tended to. Instead, he walked over to one of the chairs situated next to a currently-empty fire place. The whole room looked like it belonged more in a western movie than a psychiatrist’s therapy space, with its wooden walls, stone fireplace, and rustic looking furniture. Jesse wouldn’t complain about that, though.

“Just take a seat please, Jesse.” Doctor Ziegler called from the other room, where he had his office space proper, the one that students weren’t allowed in. “I’m going to grab a couple of things, and then I’ll be in.” Jesse glanced at the chair, took a deep breath, and sat down.

Jesse sat with both feet planted firmly on the ground, arms on the rests, hands gripping the ends of the chair tightly, though not enough to show any indication of how he was currently feeling. His eyes swept around the room, briefly pausing on various items of interest, photos mainly. One in particular caught his eye, a simple silver frame, one that contained a picture of a beautiful blonde woman, flashing the camera an affectionate smile. 

Jesse couldn't help but wonder who the woman was, he had never noticed that picture in Doctor Ziegler’s office before. Then again, Jesse could barely remember the last time he had actually shown up for one of his appointments. Usually Doctor Ziegler would meet him in one of the school’s empty rooms when he missed an appointment, which got Jesse out of class, and forced him to be quick. Two definite pluses, two obvious reasons for Jesse’s strategy.

“Would you like anything to drink, Jesse?” He glanced to the side to find that Doctor Ziegler stood in the doorway, well, he had poked his head around the corner, anyway. Jesse shook his head, but thanked Doctor Ziegler for the offer before the blonde man stepped into the room, carrying a file under one arm and his mug of coffee in the other hand. 

“How're you doing?” Doctor Ziegler sat down across from Jesse, and set the file on the small table that rested right next to the chair. Jesse shifted somewhat, already unsure of what to say. 

“I’m fine, thank ‘ya.” Jesse watched as Doctor Ziegler flipped his file open, and the older man pulled a pen from his pocket. He clicked the pen, and wrote something that Jesse didn't believe was significant. Probably just the date, something along those lines.

“Well, that's good to hear.” The Doctor’s thick Swiss accent made Jesse think of a stereotypical German villain when he said Ws, and that thought almost helped to lessen the tension. If anyone was to be a villain, he couldn't see the slightly overweight, balding doctor as a decent candidate. “However, I’ve noticed a dip in your grades over the past semester.” Doctor Ziegler flicked a page over, and dragged his finger down a column of numbers, ones that Jesse recognized distinctly as his grades. 

“I think that there may be more to that than the classes being hard.” A pause. “Are you still hanging around with your friends from last year?” Jesse shifted in his seat again, and nodded in response.

“Well, most of ‘em.” Jesse scratched his cheek absent-mindedly as he spoke. “Some of ‘em graduated.” Doctor Ziegler started writing again, his pen making a distinct scratch as it ran across the page, one that was grating to the young cowboy’s ears. 

“Do you wear that hat often?” Doctor Ziegler pointed with the end of his pen to accentuate the question. Jesse cocked a brow at the question, and he unwittingly reached up and touched the brim of the Stetson.

“All the time, I'm never far from ‘er.” He smiled just a little bit as he spoke, and Doctor Ziegler hummed to himself.

“You didn't wear it last year, did you?” Jesse let his hand drop back to the armrest of his chair, and shook his head. 

“Nah, didn't get it ‘till late this summer.” Jesse crossed his arms over his chest as he slowly got accustomed to the pace of the conversation, got decently adjusted to how the doctor was talking to him. 

“Legally I hope?” Jesse searched the doctor’s face for some sort of tell that he was just joking, but the blonde’s aged face was set in stone. Jesse muttered something as he reached up and withdrew his hat for a moment to scratch an itch. 

“I got it legally.” Jesse stressed the last word, aware that irritation was quickly balling up in the pit of his stomach. He knew that if this line of questioning went where he thought it was going, then it would soon wind up in his head. “Family heirloom.” 

Doctor Ziegler lent back, crossed one leg over the other, and glanced at Jesse over the top of his glasses before returning his eyes to the page in front of him. “Have you been involved in any criminal activity lately?”

“No.”

“Smoking?”

“Nope.”

“Drinking?”

“Why do you think I would be honest with you even if I did?” That question hung in the air for a moment, as Jesse and Doctor Ziegler stared each other down. Finally, the older man relented and glanced away as he wrote something on his chart. The atmosphere of a friendly conversation was lost then, and the rest of it felt cold, sterilized, stock questions asked in a rehearsed calm voice that Jesse didn't buy for one second. The only thing he was happy about is that it was over quickly. 

When Jesse stepped out of the cottage, it looked to be late afternoon. The sun hung low beneath the trees around the cottage, the light that it projected just barely streaming through the canopy of leaves. Jesse sighed as he stepped down the stairs and made his way down the path, back toward the dorms. 

He wondered where his group had gone off to, and if they had wondered where he’d gone off to for the majority of the day. His first thought was to check the dorms, his reasoning was that with the heat having not diminished, Gabriel would have contained them in one of the rooms, and grabbed everyone else’s fan to make the one room habitable. 

Sure enough, Jesse was right. When he checked Gabriel’s room, he was told the door was unlocked from somewhere inside once he had knocked. When Jesse opened the door, he was met with a blast of cold air and a chorus of voices commanding him to close the door. Without a second thought, he complied, as he didn't want to let any of the cold air escape either.

“Where were you?” Jack asked as Jesse sat down on the bed where the blonde was currently lounging. Gabriel was in a similar position on the other bed, with Sombra lying on the floor, half-asleep from what Jesse could tell.

“Wilhelm get you?” Sombra’s voice drifted up from below, and the cowboy hummed a response as he removed his hat, setting it down on the bed before he leant back to put his weight on his palms. 

“How'd y’all get my fan?” Jack shrugged and glanced toward Gabriel for an explanation as well. “I thought I took my key back from you.”

“You did, but your roommate was home, and he didn't ask any questions.” Jesse made a mental note to tell Hanzo about being cautious when it came to who he let in the door. That is, if the newcomer was in the room when he got back. 

“He didn't speak two words to me.” Jesse wiped off what little sweat had formed on the way over with the back of his hand. “Just sat there and smoked this weird….pipe, thing.” Sombra chuckled. 

“Like a crack pipe?” Jesse shot a glare her way. He didn't even feel like offering a reply to that jab, but to explain his confusion, he did.

“It was tobacco.” Jesse scratched what little stubble that had formed on his face over the past few days. “Just looked weird s’all.” Gabriel snickered.

“Well, Cowboy, if you haven't noticed, he's not from America. Makes sense he's got some weird stuff.” There was a pause then, before Jack asked the question that all of them had been thinking.

Why was Hanzo here? The group had all asked the question initially, but Jesse had been the only one to offer an answer. However, they had all come to the conclusion that there was nothing noticeably wrong with Hanzo, and they agreed to that. 

“Maybe he’s just done some bad stuff.” Jesse leant back on the bed, his head nearly brushing against Jack’s legs as he did so. He noted that Gabriel cocked a brow at the display before he replied. 

“From what Sombra could tell, he hasn't.” 

“Clean as a slate.” Her voice drifted up from below once more, sounding slurred and groggy as she slowly drifted off to sleep. Gabriel, Jack, and Jesse all shared a glance then. 

If not a criminal record, then why was Hanzo here?


End file.
